Fire - A force for life?

On Wednesday 10th December, the Year 11 ATAR Geography students attended the Perth Hills Discovery Centre to carry out fieldwork and practical studies as part of their course. Several year 10 students were also given the opportunity to attend.

While there, we visited the site of a prescribed burn and the site of a wild fire. The differences between the two sites were startling. At the prescribed burn site there was still some leaf litter on the ground, but within two months most plants had started to regenerate. At the wild fire site, due to a higher intensity fire, the ground was very barren with lots of ash. Due to the high temperatures some of the plants had been completely killed off, although lots of the native Australian flora had started to re-grow on the site.

We also toured Parkerville to understand the importance of being bush fire ready.

Many Thanks to all the students who attended, for all your hard work. The staff at the centre were very impressed by your knowledge!

A Final Hoorah from the Junior School!

Kindergarten

It has been a fortnight of Christmas cheer in the Kindergarten room as we prepare for the birth of Jesus. We listened to the Nativity story to learn about the Angels, Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus and the shepherds.  We then created our own Nativity scene from pop sticks. We have created many beautiful pieces of artwork to celebrate the season’s festivities. Mrs Bayliss was very thorough in ensuring that every piece of artwork (and the children) were covered in glitter!

We were so excited to get dressed in our red and green clothes for the end of year Christmas concert. There were many delightful costumes ranging from Christmas pixies and fairies, Angels, elves and Santa’s helpers. We sang and danced our way through two songs, “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” and “Unto us this Holy Night.” It was a wonderful sight!

It has been an absolute pleasure teaching such a vibrant group of student this year. I have loved watching their enthusiasm for learning grow more and more each day. I will certainly miss seeing their smiling faces over the holiday break, but I look forward to seeing them back next year as big Pre-Primary children. 

Wishing everyone a safe, happy and Holy Christmas with your loved ones. 

Mrs Tucker

Class Teacher

12 December 2014

Year One

Well well well, it’s the end of the year and Year One have had a blast! This fortnight we have been busy completing our Big Ideas tasks. Our big question has been ‘What’s Christmas Worth?’. After researching different questions and illustrating our ideas the children have used material, paper, wool and generally anything they have found to create a magical weaving piece which illustrates their answer. 

Some of the children have verbalised the following responses to the question:

Monika: I think Christmas is all about having fun and believing in God. My weaving has purple for singing and pink is for the Advent candle. The blue material is for Mary and gold is for the jewels from the gifts from the Wise Men. 

Oscar: I think Christmas is all about having fun with my family. My weaving has red for Santa’s clothes, purple for the Advent candles and yellow for the angels. I have put green for the leaves from the wreaths, blue is for Mary and the maroon is for Christmas songs. 

Lucas: I think Christmas is all about Jesus because he was born. I’ve used red to symbolise Jesus’ blood and white is for the angels. I have woven blue for Mary the mother of Jesus and yellow for the shining star!

Jayce: I think Christmas is all about when you open your toys and you get to play with them. My weaving has red for the blood of Jesus and the green means life. I’ve used blue for Mary the mother of Jesus and gold represents the church being Jesus’ house. 

Sienna: I think Christmas is all about getting new things. My weaving has blue for Mary the mother of Jesus and white for the wise men’s hats. I have used yellow for the angel and red for the blood of Jesus. Green represents the tree which is for life. 

Also this week we have had the pleasure of Bunnings coming into the classroom. The friendly Tegan, has helped us construct a Christmas tree for our table decorations. We used wood and glue to build the tree. Following, we spray painted and placed glitter to give them a Christmas feel. The children loved having Tegan in again and we thank Bunnings for providing us with fantastic gifts. 

The year has sadly come to an end! Miss Behiels has had a fabulous time teaching such a vibrant and enthusiastic bunch of children. She would like to wish all families a safe and happy holiday and looks forward to seeing you all in the coming year!

Miss Behiels

Class Teacher

Pre-Primary

This week, Monday 8 December, the Pre-Primary students shared their Christmas Nativity with the Junior school students and families. It was a day of great excitement! We would like to thank all of the parents for their support with the students costumes and being involved throughout the year.

It’s time to say “Goodbye”. The last day of school is the closing of one door and opening of another.

We want to thank you for all the warmth, the memories and the learning that we have shared this school year.

God Bless

Miss Emma Pritchard and Mrs Emer Doherty

11 December 2014

One Week To Go!

The Junior School has been busy preparing for the Christmas Concert being held on Monday, 8 December. Families are invited to attend the concert in San Salvador (the Learning Resource Centre) at 9.30am. 

Foundation Junior School Families will also have the opportunity to plant a commemorative rose in the front of the College to add to the 2010 Foundation Family roses. Each family will plant a rose associated with the House their child has been assigned:

Frayne House: Catherine McAuley Rose

Ozanam House: Good Samaritan Rose

McCormack House: Mary MacKillop Rose

Salvado House: Peace Rose

The Pre-Primary, Year One and Year Two students will be participating in House Activities on Wednesday, 10 December. Students are asked to wear their House Shirt for the day.

Melissa Croswell

Head of Junior School

Year Two

How fast has the time flown this year? The end of the year is here and the students are busy preparing for our end of year concert. They are very excited to present their play, song and dance to all of their families.

In the classroom this fortnight, we have been discovering the properties of different materials through cooking, eating muesli and paper making. Our experiment with making paper was very successful and looks amazing! We even got to make other items with the left over paper!

Our nature weaving projects are hanging on the walls and look fantastic. The students explored the bushland to find objects to weave into the frame, creating some awesome pieces of art. Our Big  Ideas project is finishing and we are preparing our final piece to represent our research.

We are looking forward to a fantastic final week in Year Two.

Mrs Ryan

Class Teacher

Pre-Primary

First of all, I would like to congratulate Emily and Susan for hosting the Pre-Primary Assembly. The students proudly showed off their skills and talents in front of the Junior school and families. In the photo you will see the students sitting on the couch next to our College Principal, Ms Mandy Connor.

With the count down to Christmas, the students have been involved in many purposeful writing experiences, such as applications to be an Elf, literature recounts and letters. The students were very excited to put up their class Christmas tree. They decided to write the procedure for putting up a Christmas tree. They also created their own hand-print tree. 

Some of the boys have been extremely busy displaying their architectural and building skills as they used the blocks to create a huge shopping centre. The Kindergarten students were very impressed. They have also investigated how objects can move. In the picture you can see Sebastian rolling a toy log down a slope, which was later reflected on during a sharing circle.

Most importantly, it is the season of Advent and the students have been practising a Nativity Play for the Christmas Concert on Monday. They have been very interested to learn the story of Jesus and be involved in conversations about God. Through their actions they have been seen to be living like Jesus. Every one of the students has shown a desire to make a difference.

Miss Pritchard

Class Teacher

7 December 2014

Inter-House Swimming Carnival

It was a perfect day for an Inter-House Swimming Carnival, which was held at Bayswater Waves on Thursday 4 December 2014. Those who took part on the day participated to the best of their abilities and involve themselves in many events for their House.

Salvado took the lead early in the day and were well ahead at one stage of the carnival. A mid way surge from Ozanam saw their lead narrow before the relays commenced. Congratulations to Ozanam House, who won the Senior School Carnival by 6.5 points from Salvado. What a close finish to the carnival!

SENIOR SCHOOL OVERALL HOUSE POINTS 2014

HOUSE	POINTS
OZANAM	1018
SALVADO	1011.5
FRAYNE	857
MCCORMACK	760.5

 SWIMMING CHAMPIONS YEARS 7 – 12

		CHAMPION	RUNNER UP
MIDDLE SCHOOL
YEAR 7	BOYS	ALEX RANKIN (MCCORMACK)	TIM LEE (OZANAM)
	GIRLS	MICHAELA MAYNARD (FRAYNE)	MEGAN GORTON (MCCORMACK)
YEAR 8	BOYS	BRENTON HILTON (OZANAM)	ALFIE TURRELL (SALVADO)
	GIRLS	DANNIELLE PERRY (OZANAM)	HANNAH SCHNELL (MCCORMACK)
SENIOR SCHOOL
YEAR 10	BOYS	TOM STEWART (OZANAM)	RYAN LEE (SALVADO)
	GIRLS	TALIA CATLIN (SALVADO)	SHANNON LEE (OZANAM)
YEAR 11	BOYS	VINCINT RIGOLI (FRAYNE)	SEAN SMITH (SALVADO)
	GIRLS	CASEY VAN DER MERWE (SALVADO)	RACHEL JOUBERT (FRAYNE)
YEAR 12	BOYS	JAMES EVANS (OZANAM)	CONNOR FRANCOIS (OZANAM)
	GIRLS	BAYLEE STEWART (SALVADO)	DANIELLA JACOBS (OZANAM)

We would like to thank the many students, parents and teachers who acted in a variety of capacities as officials or helpers. We also thank the many parents that turned out to watch the carnival.

I sincerely thank and acknowledge the efforts of the Physical Education staff – Mrs Fiona de Courcier, Mr Gareth Elliott and Mr Brendan Buckley, along with Mrs Cathie Lewis and Mrs Sam Vagg, who prepared staff and student lunches.

Mrs Christina Davini
Frayne House Coordinator
Health & Physical Education Teacher

Christmas in the Parish

Fr Bona and the St Helena Parish invite you to attend the Christmas Liturgical celebrations held over the next couple of weeks. Children are invited to come dressed as Shepherds and Angels to help celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas Mass Celebration Timetable

Reconcilitation/Confession before Christmas
Friday, 5 December at 7.00pm

Christmas Eve

Wednesday, 24 December

6.30pm Mass

Carols start at 6.00pm

10.00pm Vigil Mass

Carols start at 9.30pm

Christmas Day

Thursday, 25 December

8.00am Mass

Carols start at 7.30am

9.30am Mass

Carols start at 9.00am

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

 Each year, the Holy Cross College community takes part in the St Vincent De Paul Christmas appeal. This year like every other year, each HTG has been given a family and were asked to bring in items which would aid a family. Just from looking at some of the baskets around the school, they are filling up fast. As a Faith team, we would like to thank all of the parents in guiding their children in selecting items to bring for their basket. We appreciate your generosity in thinking about others at Christmas time as we come closer to that very special day. 

Monday of this week, the first week day of Advent, the faith leaders put up the christmas tree in the office, which has made the entry look very festive. On the Christmas tree, there are now some stars with the age and gender of a child written on the star for you to take home. They range from boys and girls between the ages of a baby to 12 years of age. Please consider giving a present that will help to make a child feel special this Christmas. We also ask you NOT to wrap the gift in special paper as St Vincent de Paul has to check every gift first before they allocate them to a needy family.

Thank you for helping us to make 2014 an extra special year for so many families.

From the Faith Team